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Aparecida crossed her arms in front of her mighty chest, raised a Frida Kahlo eyebrow and stood her ground awaiting a signal from her mistress.
     
    “I implore you, Jenna,” Maggie said, facing her daughter. “Think first of Cody in this! She’s a sensitive little girl and you’re complete strangers to her. Can’t we figure out some kind of gentle transition that will give her time to get to know you both? I could bring her to you on weekends, or you could come here to visit . . . I’ll cooperate in any way that helps you learn to love each other.”
     
    “I’m afraid you Americans coddle your children to an outrageous degree, Maggie,” Eric rebuked. “In Europe, we find that the more definitively we set rules and regulations for our young, the easier it is for them to comply. Standards of behavior, discipline . . . from what I’ve seen here, you have little regard for these thing in America.”
     
    “But we have a great deal of regard for love and compassion,” Maggie snapped. “Perhaps the makes up for our other deficiencies.” Eric’s smile faded.
     
    “Be that as it may, Maggie,” he persisted his voice several degrees cooler than before, “my first doctorate was in the law, and I assure you, however our attitudes may differ about child rearing, the law will see to it that Jenna and I raise Cody . . . according to our own standards. You appear to have been a perfectly acceptable substitute mother for a period of time, but that substitution is no longer required. The real mother exists and she wants her child. For your own sake, and Cody’s, do not attempt to stand in our way, or you will simply force us to remove her from your sphere of influence, permanently.” Eric let the threat hang so ominously Maggie bit back a sharp retort and quelled an urged to kick him in the knee. She stared at Eric, then at Jenna, but it was apparent she would get no support from the quarter. “I’ll get her ready,” she murmured hoarsely, the words rebelling. “Maria will pack her things.”
     
    Maria muttered a stream of expletives as she packed the little suitcase. Maggie caught only the “illiterate of father and mother” and “thieving ox” parts, as she stood clutching Cody’s hand, feeling the child’s fear electrify her own. Oh God, I can’t do this! I can’t let them take her into nowhere . Can’t not share her laughter anymore, or heal her hurts. Oh Sweet Jesus, how will they know she has a scrunched-up pillow she can’t sleep without? Will they care that oatmeal makes her skin itch, or that Yehudi Cat sleeps on her bed?
     
    “I don’t like that lady,” Cody said softly. “That man has mean eyes.” Maggie fought back tears and forced herself, for Cody’s sake, to be brave.
     
    “Listen to me, love,” she pleaded. “You’ve got to listen to me, now! Your mommy left you with me to mind, a long, long time ago . . .” She felt her throat fill up with tears and beat them back. “She was very sick then, and she couldn’t take care of you, so she asked me to keep you here where you’d be safe and loved. And I did that because I love you with all my heart. Now she’s well again, angel, and she’s been missing you all this time, and she needs you to come home.”
     
    “Home is here!” Cody said emphatically; Maggie’s stomach lurched. “Yes, sweetheart, this will always be your home, but your mommy has a nice new home that she wants to share with you.”
     
    “Can you come live there, too?”
     
    “No, love. I have to stay here with Maria.”
     
    “I want to stay, too!” Maggie could see the rejection cloud the child’s eyes.
     
    “Please don’t send Cody away, Mim,” she pleaded, tears running down her cheeks. “Please don’t make me go with those bad people. I love you! I’ll be good!” She began to sob and Maggie shot a glance at Maria, whose stern face was already bathed in tears, and made up her mind. She’d make a fight of it if need be, but she wouldn’t